Buffett: Bitcoin ‘does not meet the test of a currency’

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not around in 10 or 20 years,” he told CNBC Monday.

Curiously, he also made an argument about Bitcoin not being a real currency because it is tied to the value of the US dollar.

“People say, ‘Well, I’ll sell you goods in Bitcoins,’ but they change the price of those every time the price of the dollar changes in relation to Bitcoin. They’re pricing off the dollar. They could say, ‘Well, I’ll sell it to you in barrels of oil,’ but if every time the price of oil changes they change the number of barrels, your oil is not the currency.”

A quick Buffett bio

Buffett, also known as the Oracle of Omaha because of his apparent near ability to see into the future — and because, you know, he’s from Omaha — made his fortune as an investor throughout the second half of the 20th Century, and he’s still active today as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

His long record of success gives his statements clout.

And yet, in the same interview, he described Bitcoin as a “Buck Rogers kind of thing.” Buck Rogers was a popular sci-fi character during the days of pulp novels in the early 20th Century.

Essentially, what this all boils down to is that Buffett doesn’t really grasp the whole Bitcoin thing.

And that’s OK. He has a net worth of $58 billion dollars, and he has no real incentive to play catch-up.

But maybe he should refrain from further commentary on cryptocurrencies when he’s on camera.